Henry Ward, owner of the 200-acre Short Ferry Farm in Lincoln, UK, on June 4. Ward's farm was submerged twice in six months since the intense rainfall brought by Storm Babet in October 2023.
Photographer: Vivian Wan/BloombergThe UK’s Muddy Fields Are Latest Climate Threat to Food Security
Britain’s usually plentiful grain crops are struggling — and politicians and consumers may feel the fallout with farmers.
From tractors stuck in muddy paddocks to raw sewage washing up from clogged waterways, extreme rain and flooding have wreaked havoc on British farmers this year. The soggy and turbulent weather — exacerbated by climate change — has stunted their ability to provide homegrown crops for bread, beer and nearly every grocery aisle.
Britain has seen its sixth wettest spring since records began in 1836, according to the Met Office. The outcome has devastated fields for growing grains like wheat and barley, which the UK usually produces to levels that can mostly meet domestic needs. The unseasonable conditions have also delayed supplies of British strawberries and even led to the death of livestock.